Localization of mobile laser scanner using classical mechanics

We use a single 2D laser scanner to 3D scan indoor environments, without any inertial measurement units or reference coordinates. The localization is done directly from the point cloud in an intrinsic manner compared to other state-of-the-art mobile laser scanning methods where external inertial or odometry sensors are employed and synchronized with the laser scanner. Our approach is based on treating the scanner as a holonomic system. A novel type of scanner platform, called VILMA, is designed and built to demonstrate the functionality of the presented approach. Results from flat-floor and non-flat-floor environments are presented. They suggest that intrinsic localization may be generalized for broader use.